In 2010 Garfield announced that he would stop writing the "AdReview" column after 25 years.[8] Currently, he is a bi-weekly columnist for both the The Guardian[9] and MediaPost,[10] writing on the subjects of media and marketing. He also appears in a weekly podcast with Mike Vuolo called Lexicon Valley on Slate about the English language.

On January 2, 2013, Slate posted a Lexicon Valley podcast on "creaky voice" in young females, which Garfield criticized in emphatic terms.[11] The episode dramatically increased the number of downloads over previous subjects—by a factor of ten—becoming the most-listened-to episode of the series,[12] and brought strong disapproval on Garfield from some sources.[13][14]Lexicon Valley went on hiatus after the January 27 podcast, but episodes resumed later that year on June 9.

Garfield has called Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, "a hometown of my youth".[19] Garfield is Jewish.[20] He is married to Milena Trobozic Garfield. He has a daughter named Ida Rose and currently lives in Potomac, Maryland.